Studies of developing pharmaceutical compositions by the use of the component derived from plants growing in the natural world have been heretofore actively made in the art. Of the plants existing in the natural world, those taken by animals and humans as edibles are nontoxic and readily available, and are therefore especially actively studied. Heretofore, various pharmaceutical compositions have been developed, and there are a great many kinds of those compositions.
Elm and vanish trees which the present inventors have specifically noted are plants abundantly growing in the natural world, and they are readily available. Heretofore, however, an elm tree has been almost put outside the range of studies for pharmaceutical materials. It is widely known that a vanish tree contains urushiol which is toxic and causes dermatitis when adhered to skin, and there is a strong impression that a vanish tree is harmful to human bodies. For these reasons, there have heretofore been few trials of utilizing elm and vanish trees for pharmaceutical materials as compared with other plants. In that situation, it has been found that a composition comprising elm and vanish trees selectively combined is useful for prevention or treatment for hypercholesterolemia, arteriosclerosis and liver dysfunction (see JP-A 2001-354581, 0045 to 0053).